Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Abby’s Bakery in South Texas, arresting eight illegal aliens and slapping the bakery’s owners with charges of harboring and abetting criminals.
The bakery owners, Leonardo Baez and Nora Alicia Avila-Guel, admitted to knowingly hiring and sheltering illegal aliens—an act that flouts federal law and contributes to the ongoing border crisis.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) confirmed that the pair was charged with bringing in and harboring aliens and aiding and abetting the harboring of aliens, offenses that carry serious penalties under U.S. law.
Yet, rather than report them to authorities or comply with federal employment laws, they chose to harbor them, even providing shelter for some of the individuals on their own property.
NEW: ICE & HSI in the RGV conducted a worksite operation at a bakery in Los Fresnos, TX, arresting 8 illegal alien employees and charging the owners with federal felonies for harboring & aiding the illegal aliens via 8 USC 1324. This is the law Tom Homan has been repeatedly… pic.twitter.com/GZNgikx672
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) February 21, 2025
Texas Tribune reported:
Agents conducted a “worksite enforcement action” at Abby’s Bakery in Los Fresnos and apprehended eight immigrant workers on Feb. 12 following a tip the agency received in December, according to Special Agent Dillon Duke with Homeland Security Investigations, who testified during a preliminary hearing Friday morning.
Six of the immigrants were in the country on temporary visas that do not grant them permission to work in the U.S. It is unclear if they were in the U.S. longer than their visas permitted, but immigration officials have since removed them to Mexico.
The tipster informed the agency that the business owners were harboring and employing immigrants without pay, Duke said. However, when the agents questioned an employee, he said he received $8 per hour.
During the raid of the business — whichalso includes Dulce’s Cafe — agents also searched an apartment located on the side of the building where several of the employees lived. Duke described the apartment as a rectangular room with six beds along the wall, two bathrooms and no kitchen. The windows were covered with cardboard.
Agents also questioned the couple, who allegedly admitted they knew their employees were not authorized to work in the U.S.
The couple’s attorneys said during a court hearing on Friday that offering shelter to their employees did not constitute an attempt to hide them from authorities and that there was no evidence suggesting the employees were prohibited from leaving the apartment.
The judge disagreed, setting a $100,000 bond with a $15,000 cash deposit for each defendant.
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